Curtis Brinkley is listed as the fourth tailback on the Chargers depth chart. In more ways than one, that’s No. 4, with a bullet.

Curtis Brinkley plays football with a bullet lodged one inch from his heart. He wears it as a badge of honor. It pushes him to a clear space in which he knows he can overcome just about anything. And now, his second-biggest chance at overcoming may be forthcoming.

“I look at the shooting as a gift and a curse,” Brinkley says. “I have a history of overcoming things.”

The Chargers signed Brinkley out of Syracuse as an undrafted free agent in 2009, and after finishing the team’s minicamps, he went back home to Philadelphia. Around midnight on July 9, Brinkley was sitting in his car waiting for his sister Niveka to get off work from a medical center (she worked with mentally challenged people) when he was shot three times by a gunman.

“Twice in the shoulder and once in the back,” he says. “I don’t even remember it. I woke up in the hospital. One of the bullets that went through the shoulder is the one near my heart. Doctors say it’s too dangerous to remove. The guy who did it turned himself in.”

“The guy who did it” was Anthony Peterson Jr., the boyfriend of Brinkley’s sister, and reports claimed the bullets actually were meant for a rival for Niveka’s affections, certainly not Brinkley. Charged with one count of attempted murder and aggravated assault, Peterson was sentenced to 7-to-14 years in prison.

Meanwhile, in a flash, it all seemed over for Brinkley. Initially in critical condition before being stabilized — fortunately, he was close to the medical center — he recovered but football was out, perhaps for good.

“Yeah, when it happened, I thought my football career was over,” says Brinkley, who returned in 2010 as a practice squad guy but now figures to get many more carries in August now that starter Ryan Mathews is down with a broken collar bone. “A year after that, I still was unsure. I still had that bullet in me. What if I got hit the wrong way?

“That’s the kind of stuff you go through mentally. I was cautious when I came back and put on the pads. It was tough. I went through a lot of things and there were people saying I wasn’t going to make it.”

After spending more than a year on the practice squad, Brinkley was activated last year for the Chargers’ fateful (Philip Rivers’ fumbled snap) game at Kansas City when Mathews and Mike Tolbert were out with injuries, and he performed well. I like Curtis Brinkley. He has an interesting running style and he can catch the football. No need to ask if he’s tough.

Making the roster now is up to him. The Chargers are covered with running backs — Ronnie Brown, Le’Ron McClain, Jackie Battle, Jacob Hester and, of course, Mathews. But Brinkley thought his chances of making the 2009 team added up to minus-zero.

“That’s why I look at the shooting in two ways,” says Curtis, 26. “I look at the good that came out of it. At that time we were loaded with running backs — LT, Darren Sproles, Mike Tolbert, Michael Bennett, Jacob (Hester). No way I was making it then. It was an unfortunate situation, but I’m happy to be here now with an opportunity. I feel things happen in life for a reason.”

There seems to be no question Brinkley can play in the NFL. He’s going to get a job somewhere, so why not here? But to do so, he must produce on special teams.

“I love special teams,” Brinkley says. “I get hit all the time. It gives me the chance to hit back.”

Coach Norv Turner is a Brinkley fan. But then he’s a fan of all his backs.

“You go into a game with four dressed, but if Ryan’s nicked you find a way to keep five backs,” Norv says. “Where do they help you on special teams? Last year we may have been the only team in history that dressed three backs and all three played special teams — Tolbert, Jacob and Brinkley.”

Brinkley just shows up to work every day and does everything he’s asked. He isn’t Adrian Peterson. He’s Curtis Brinkley.

“I’m getting more reps now,” says the 5-foot-9, 210-pound Brinkley. “I don’t know what my role is going to be, but whatever it is, I’ll be ready. I look at guys like Ronnie and Le’Ron, guys who’ve been around a long time. I pay attention. The game has slowed down for them. I do a lot of mental reps.”

One of the leading rushers in Syracuse history, Curtis thought he would get drafted. But waiting around the phone didn’t do him much good. “I got a call from the Chargers around the fifth or sixth round, but they told me they were going to try and sign me after the draft. I think six teams called me.”

Those six couldn’t have had the depth at running back the Chargers had then. So why on earth did he choose to sign with San Diego?

“I want to be around the best; whether it’s good or bad, I don’t question it,” he says. “I ain’t afraid of competition.”